and defending her tenets with so much talent, learning, and zeal. He has our sincere meed of approbation, and we hold forth his example as worthy of general imitation.

Our author did not rush into print on the present occasion from an impulse of vanity or ostentation. Morisonianism was prevalent in his neighbourhood, and even corrupting some of his flock in the parish of Shotts, where he was pastor at that time. Hence he found it necessary to put on his armour in defence of the truth, and his two able and orthodox discourses produced so favourable an impression on his hearers, that the members of his session solicited their publication. Mr Colvin, without any prudery or affectation, complied at once with their request, and printed, pro bono publico, his judicious and scriptural discourses. We have formed a very fair opinion of them. We have gone through both of them with much satisfaction, and we quite agree with the humorous critique of a reverend brother, to whom the author| had presented a copy of his work. On meeting with his friend some time after he had made the present, he very naturally asked him what he thought of his performance. The reply at once given was— "They are excellent productions: I have closely examined both of them, and have no hesitation in saying, that Colvin's mixture (the two sermons are stitched together under one and the same cover) forms a complete antidote to Morison's pills!

There is a great deal of quackery in the theological as well as in the medical world; and it is the duty of all who are qualified for the task to expose the impostors in both schools. The arts and practices of both are deeply injurious; and much it is to be lamented, that there is always a host of simpletons ready to be taken in by both, and victimized. Theological quackery may be said to be as hurtful to the soul, as the medical is to the body; and as the prescriptions and doses of the latter poison or destroy the too confiding patient, so the heterodox and erroneous notions of the former infuse themselves into the spiritual frames of weakly professors, and seduce these unhappy persons into a damnable departure from the faith once delivered to the saints.'. Our author justly remarks in

his prefatory note, that 'in consequence of very erroneous views of important and fundamental doctrines, having of late been industriously disseminated in his neighbourhood, whereby some unstable souls have been beguiled, he felt it to be his duty to lift up a testimony on behalf of the good old paths, so as to counteract the efforts of false teachers;' and to this weighty sentence, Mr Colvin appends the following observation in the way of apology, that he rarely or never introduces controversial divinity into his pulpit ministrations.'

Now, in regard to this latter point, there may be too much reserve on the part of the preacher. The Apostles engaged in controversy, whenever it was necessary to do so; and we cannot perceive any good reason why their example, in this respect, should not be judiciously followed. When there happens to be a large crop of heresies in any district or country, the harvest labourers must not pretend not to see them, or betray any fear to remove them. For such cowardice or affectation is unworthy of a Christian watchman, who fails in his duty to his great Head as well as to his flock, when he does not exert himself to the utmost to cast out such deceivers from the fold, and expose to the eyes of all their deceptious views and heterodox imaginings. No doubt, controversy should be conducted at all times in the spirit of the Gospel. As little personal crimination as possible should be indulged in, and 'all bitterness, and wrath, and malice,' should be eschewed with the most scrupulous care. However vehement may be our denunciation of the heresy, we should anxiously spare the person of the heretic, and separate him, as far as we can, from the erroneous theories or dogmas he presumes to manufacture or propound. For a long while, there was too little said on the Popish controversy. The 'Man of Sin' was allowed to spread his poisonous heresies with as much freedom as he pleased; and the consequence now is, that it has become necessary to drive him back at whatever cost, and to indulge much more in Romanist disputations, than would have been incumbent upon us, had we not, at a former period, shown so much reserve, or slept so soundly at our posts. The Protestant Church is now obliged to make up for past remissness-to blow aloud her

hension of them, or to reason soundly and accurately regarding them. The only things we know for certain respecting them, and which we should ever maintain with firm and uncompromising confidence, is, that these doctrines, as held by the Presbyterian Church, and embodied in the Westminster Confession of Faith, do not trench, in any degree, on the great fact of human responsibility, and are in no respect inconsistent with the goodness and impartiality of God. We believe them, because Scripture teaches them; and we refuse to enter into any long and clouded trains of reasoning about them, because we cannot fully comprehend them, and should be sure to lose ourselves amid the thick fog of such empty and unedifying speculations.

The analogy between the material and moral worlds affords a strong argument in favour of predestination or election by grace, and is thus ably pressed into the field by Mr Colvin :-'No one can consistently believe in the government of God in the works of nature, and yet deny it in the kingdom of grace. For, can it be admitted, that the affairs of the external world are predetermined and controlled by God that the machinery of the universe performs its operations in obedience to the eternal purpose of the Divine will-that God has foreordained whatsoever movements of matter come to pass in the heavens above, upon the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth;-and yet that in the noble empire of mind, in the arrangements and events of the moral world, all is abandoned to a fortuitous train of contingencies? Has the Father of our spirits framed minds, which, the moment they are made, escape from His hands, and defy His cognizance and control? Can you believe that the very hairs of your head are all numbered-that your days are determined-and that God has appointed your bounds that you cannot pass; and yet that the spirit of man, the noblest work of the all-wise Creator-the emanation of Deity Himself—is cast orphaned upon the world, the sport and the plaything of an unknown and undecided destiny? Can it be maintained, that the God of providence holds the winds in the hollow of his hand, issues His commands to the billows of the ocean, wielding this mighty element at His will, so that they who go down to the sea in ships are under

the government of Him who rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm;—and yet that the noble vessel, which is frieghted with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and bound for the land of immortality, is abandoned to its own lawless wanderings, uncontrolled and uncontrollable by the God of grace? How passing strange the supposition!'

It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion, that a universal atonement presupposes or involves a universal salvation, and Mr Colvin is eminently successful in fixing his opponents on the horns of this dilemma. 'Surely,' he eloquently says, they who advocate universal atonement without universal salvation, have but very inadequate notions of the transcendent value of Christ's death. To assert or to insinuate that, in the case of any individual, Christ died in vain, is, upon the assumption of His Godhead, a contradiction of terms. And does not the statement, that Christ died for all, and yet that the sacrificial offering of Himself does not save all, plainly involve this? In the case of all who perish, the oblation of Jesus (being designed, as our opponents assert, for all men individually) is, by the fact of their condemnation, proved to be of none effect-a vain and useless thing, a mere shadow, a nullity, an empty nothing. Is not this a palpable dishonouring of the finished work of Jesus? And all for what? To magnify, it is said, the grace of the Gospel; or, in other words, for the sake of declaring that Christ had the wish to save all mankind, but that the sins of many were so inveterate and malignant, as to overmatch the efforts of His power; that although all men are ransomed, yet many must remain captives for ever; that although the sins of the whole human race were atoned for by Jesus, yet that thousands must suffer, for these very sins, the vengeance of eternal fire; that although all men are redeemed from the power of Satan and condemnation, yet that, in the face of this universal deliverance, many are doomed to perish everlastingly. Away with such a doctrine: it is condemned alike at the bar of reason and of Scripture.'

Their crude and unscriptural notions, too, regarding assurance, are also thus happily exposed by our author, in the following passage:-'And is it upon the

idea, that faith is the belief that our sins are forgiven, is it upon this that many are so infatuated as to build an infallible assurance of salvation? Far be it from me to assert, that it is impossible to arrive at a certain and well-grounded confidence of our personal salvation. On the contrary, I hold that assurance is attainable, and that it ought to be sought after as a most desirable and invaluable possession; that thereby our hearts may be enlarged with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost-with love and thankfulness to God, and with strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience. What says the apostle Paul? "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day." Let our opponents mark well what follows the apostle's declaration of his assurance of salvation. In the very next verse he subjoins: "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus." Let no man deceive you, my friends, in this matter. Put away from you, as gross and pernicious heresy, the saying, that assurance darts into the soul like a sunbeam into a chamber of darkness, filling the heart of the believer, in the first moments of his faith, with ecstasy and bliss, and that you ought neither to pray nor peruse the Bible, until you have been transported to this third heaven of joy and rapture. Exercise yourselves rather unto godliness; give all diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you shall never fall; the Spirit of God will witness with your spirits that you are the children of God; and resting your assurance upon the evident fruits of Divine grace in your hearts and lives, you will possess good grounds to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.'

Mr Colvin has also been very successful in showing that election by grace is a doctrine according to godliness, or that it tends to promote the cause of holiness, and to make men Christians in truth and in deed. Being a doctrine of Scripture, it must, of course, be favourable to morals; for as there can be no true religion without good morals, so there can be no good morals, or, at least, there cannot be the best morals, without Scriptural religion; | for they are founded upon the latter, and

draw their nourishment and support from its doctrines. But our space does not admit of any quotations from his excellent and edifying pages on this branch of his interesting subject.

We cannot bring our critical remarks to a close without observing, that while there is an election of grace, and while the gifts and callings of God are the free and sovereign expressions of His bounty, it is no less certain that He always gives and always withholds according to the dictates of perfect goodness and unerring wisdom. We should never lose sight of this important fact in meditating or in discoursing on the sovereignty of God. There are some men of extreme views, with more of fancy than of judgment, who seem disposed to magnify this attribute of the Supreme Being, at the expense of His other attributes. But we must ever bear in mind that the moral Governor of the universe is never arbitrary or capricious in any of His dealings with His creatures, however difficult it may be for us to understand or explain them. We may be exceedingly lame in our explanations, but the Almighty is never at fault in His operations. He does not elect or exclude without design or reason. He never violates what is proper or right by His acts of election and reprobation. In every decree of His will, in every counsel of His grace, in every case of predestination, He pleases only Himself; He consults only His own pleasure: but then it is equally true that He never pleases Himself in a wrong way, and that His pleasure is always good. It is ever regulated by, it is ever in harmony with, the eternal principles of truth and wisdom, of justice and mercy. Every exercise of His providence and peace may be said to resemble His own law, and to be holy, just, and good. It is indeed, in every respect, entirely free; but its freedom would be restrained or destroyed, did it cease to maintain a constant and perfect agreement with the rules of essential and immutable rectitude.

THE SHORTNESS OF TIME.

N.